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Greg Prince and Jason Fry
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans.

Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here.

Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here.

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...And Sometimes Baseball Is Not Fun

The 2012 Mets have been recalled from Cooperstown.

It was a night of firsts. They lost their first game. They lost their first game that made you roll your eyes and mutter and swear and stalk around. They lost their first game in which they looked absolutely hopeless and star-crossed and fatally flawed.

All of which was bound to happen, but it was still awfully nice to fantasize that it wouldn’t. And it was awfully cruel the way it all came unraveled.

First came the news that David Wright’s pinkie wasn’t bruised but broken, fractured on a hasty dive back into first. No sooner had we finished gaping about that than Dillon Gee — who’d soldiered uncertainly but courageously through five innings — ran out of gas and luck, yielding singles to Jayson Werth, who’s loathsome, and Xavier Nady, who’s not at all loathsome but still wearing the wrong uniform. On came Bobby Parnell, who promptly got Roger Bernadina to smack a double-play ball right to Daniel Murphy. Murph, a day removed from beating the Nats with bat and glove, clanked it abysmally. Parnell then gave up a deep drive to Wilson Ramos that Lucas Duda lined up … and failed to catch.

All of that trouble came with shocking speed, as if they’d announced Wright’s injury over the PA. Five minutes at most. Forget the air coming out of the balloon — this was the air blasting out of the balloon with such force that it propelled the empty skin into the open window of an orphanage where it smothered a puppy. Just like that, it was 3-0 Nats, and the game was essentially over.

The season, of course, is not. Wright has an injury of uncertain severity and duration — he might be back Friday, he might be stuck on the shelf for a few weeks of healing. That happens to teams all the time. We knew the Mets’ starting pitching was questionable even before Mike Pelfrey and Gee struggled, so there’s no news there. We knew the defense was shaky even before Murph and Duda did what you half-expect them to do on every play. Also not news.

So what is news? That the Mets are 4-1. That the Mets are 4-1 with definite signs of life from Wright, Murph, Johan Santana, Josh Thole, Jon Rauch and Ruben Tejada. If you’d told me a week ago that would be the record after five games and those would be the impressions, I’d have jumped for joy and you would have been jumping alongside me.

So stop — do not fall back into useless woe-is-us Metdom. There’s another game in a few hours — Santana vs. Strasburg, which ought to be can’t-miss stuff. You should sneak away from work to go see it, or at least palm a radio or MLB At Bat. The Mets are better than anybody thought so far, and their future is not yet written. Let’s enjoy the ride and not dwell too much on the occasional teeth-rattling jolt.

Still, yeah, those five minutes were pretty awful.

7 comments to …And Sometimes Baseball Is Not Fun

  • cleonjones

    Just say Jason Bay picture on the back of a milk carton. This guy is lost !!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully,David Wright will not be out too long. Ike will start to hit soon. Johan on the mound today- lets get a W !! Lets go Mets !!!!!!!!!!

    • Steve D

      Bay is lost…but Davis is not even in the ballpark…swinging way too long and he starts it way too early. Keith mentioned it last night. Let’s see how good the coaching is.

  • Poor Murph. I jinxedhim, methinks.

  • dmg

    “Forget the air coming out of the balloon — this was the air blasting out of the balloon with such force that it propelled the empty skin into the open window of an orphanage where it smothered a puppy.”

    this is why reading you guys is a must, win OR lose.

  • Florida Met Fan Rich

    We were do for a stinker and it just so happened that everybody played bad at once.

    We are however going to need to find a way to manufacture some runs with this line up now that wright is out, Ike is in a slump and Bay is being Bay.

    Might have to go the small ball route with steals, bunting and hit and runs.

    We could be in for a run shortage till Wright gets back!

    I just hope he comes back quick or the old “lack of depth” might start to hurt us!

  • cleonjones

    Game on as we type- Johan had another great outing- five innings pitched and only one run allowed with eight k’s. Of course he got NO RUN SUPPORT. Lets go Mets !!!!!!

  • Florida Met Fan Rich

    Baseball was not fun again for the second day in a row. Those were two UGLY losses!